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West Columbia, South Carolina

city · Lexington County

At a glance

17,963
Population
$201,700
Median home value (all homes)
34% below U.S. median
$231,283
Typical market value
Zillow, 2026-07
$1,201/mo
Median rent
11% below U.S. median
$56,912
Median household income
28% below U.S. median
19.5 min
Average commute
88.2%
Homes with broadband
69.73%
Locations with fiber available
4.8%
Unemployment

Cost of living (Clay Affordability Index)

CAI 92 — 8% below the national average. how it's computed

Housing16% below
Goods & services3% below
Utilities7% above
Taxes21% below
Insurance4% below
Commute cost28% below
For business: South Carolina is CBII band 2/5 · time to build band 1/5. See state page for the breakdown.

Living here

Colleges in town:
Nearest 4-year college3 mi
Nearest community college2 mi
Nearest technical college2 mi
High school graduates90.5%
College graduates40.9%

Doing business here

Economic development contacts, most local first:

city West Columbia Economic Development
The City of West Columbia's Economic Development team works to support business development and investment in West Columbia. It lists its Economic Development Director and staff and notes grant programs to help businesses.
state Appalachian Development Corp
The Appalachian Council of Governments is a voluntary organization of local governments serving Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens, and Spartanburg counties in Upstate South Carolina. It provides public administration, planning, information systems and technology, grants, workforce development, and services for the elderly, and works to build a competitive economy and healthy, livable communities.
state Carolina Power & Light Co.
Duke Energy's Economic Development program connects businesses with regional teams across six states (Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio/Kentucky) and provides resources such as site readiness and site selection fundamentals to help communities compete.
state Central Carolina Eco Dev Alliance
We’re a public and private alliance on a mission to cultivate and nurture the prosperity of Central South Carolina, helping businesses create jobs and recruit capital investment.
state Committee of 100
A volunteer marketing and networking group of private-sector businesses representing Central South Carolina, supporting the Central SC Alliance's mission of job creation, investment recruitment, and regional prosperity.
state North Eastern Strategic Alliance
The North Eastern Strategic Alliance (NESA) is a regional, non-profit economic development organization serving nine counties in northeastern South Carolina. Its primary objective is to create jobs by working with the existing industry base and recruiting new companies, providing regional site selection assistance, economic data access, infrastructure support, workforce training opportunities, and coordination of incentive packages with county and state partners to help businesses locate or expand in the region.
state Progress Energy Economic Development
Duke Energy's Economic Development page provides site selection resources and a Site Readiness Program. It connects communities with regional state teams in the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, and Ohio/Kentucky.
state South Carolina Department of Commerce
South Carolina Department of Commerce promotes economic opportunity for individuals and businesses through initiatives like workforce training and leads the state's foreign direct investment efforts with offices in Europe and Asia to help existing companies develop export markets.
state South Carolina Power Team
The South Carolina Power Team is the economic development organization representing South Carolina’s 19 electric cooperatives that power more than 1.6 million South Carolinians. It serves as an essential economic development partner for new capital investment, job creation and electric load within electric cooperative territory.
State sales taxYes
State income taxYes
Right-to-work stateYes

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